Prioritizing an Equity Culture at SSU
Strategies to Support Ongoing and Valued Professional Growth
Abstract
This report describes the mission, and short- and long-term goals of the Equity Culture Collective (ECC). Here, the authors describe how the ECC aims to support the University in its efforts to decrease equity gaps and DFW rates across all courses and programs, raise retention and graduation rates amongst underrepresented minorities (URMs) by affirming a culture of institutionalizing data-driven and equity-minded policies and practices that support asset-based teaching and student support. These goals align with the CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025 (GI2025) and corresponding Equity Priorities from the CSU Chancellor’s Office. In sum, the ECC strives to build a systemic culture of change that supports and values ongoing professional growth amongst faculty and staff, in order to best support all members of our SSU community.
Problem Statement
Like many CSU campuses, SSU sought to diversify its student population without considering how to identify and support the needs of historically underrepresented, underserved students. In 2021, 60% of enrolled students identified as URM, Pell students, and/or first-generation students, up from 44% in 2011. Equity gaps exist between the historically underrepresented and general student populations, i.e. URM persistence and graduation rates are lower for non-URM, non-Pell, and non-first-generation student counterparts. Sonoma State has made progress in shrinking the graduation equity gap from 7.8% to 0.6% points for URMs and 10.9% to 4.2% points for Pell students as part of GI2025. However, the graduation equity gaps still persist as do course-specific equity gaps .
The ECC is working to reduce SSU’s equity gaps by improving retention in courses that have historically high DFW rates. The ECC is focusing on high DFW courses because attrition patterns show that the majority of students who leave SSU prior to earning a degree do so after their first year and have, on average, four times as many DFWs than students who persist.1 Additionally, student performance in high DFW rate courses show a disparity between the URM, Pell, and first-generation students and the general student population. The ECC’s work contributes to closing equity gaps by implementing initiatives that address the disparity between the campus’ historically underrepresented, underserved students and the general student populations in courses with high DFW rates. Given the impact of DFWs on retention, reducing them may help slow SSU’s continuing enrollment decline.
At SSU, employee and curriculum evaluation criteria fail to adequately value work focused on increasing equity and student success in the classroom. There is no definitive language in policies that impact faculty re-appointment, tenure, and/or promotion. Staff performance criteria includes diversity awareness but no language on work to increase equity and student success. Nor is there policy language in curricular policies that directly impact students such as the Program Review and Course Syllabus policies. Clear valuation of this work, demonstrated via defining it as integral to employee work and curriculum structure, can be a valuable retention and growth tool to increase the investment of faculty, staff, and students alike in SSU.
Background
Broadening our ability to serve our diverse student population and making education accessible to all students in our state has always been our moral imperative. Gaining HSI status in 2017 further affirms SSU’s commitment to serve historically underrepresented and underserved students. In order to fulfill this obligation, we want to work on the following:
- Readying campus to adopt an asset-based (rather than deficit-based) model for teaching and learning.
- Eliminating the University’s institutional barriers to academic success.
- Identifying and providing resources and services that support student growth and academic success.
To meet these goals, the ECC will use data proactively, rather than reactively, to identify pressure points so that we can improve retention and re-enrollment. We are focusing specifically on developing interventions for courses with high DFW rates and a pronounced disparity between the general student population and URM pass rates. Over 40% of students who left after their first year of college had a DFW in ENGL 100A, the first-semester of a two-semester sequence designed specifically to help students requiring additional support services based on a multiple measure assessment of their high school performance in English. This course also maintains the highest DFW impact rate on our campus with an average of 25% of students receiving a D, F, or W, with variability across multiple sections ranging from 7% to 45%. The DFW rate of students who are required to take the course for additional support, termed Category III and IV students, do not pass at a rate of 27% and 54%, respectively. Course-level interventions to decrease DFW rates and equity gaps in these types of courses have the potential to increase retention.
Previous data from spring 2020 through spring 2020 CHEM 110 (Introductory Chemistry) has shown that incorporation of tasks focused on providing multiple pathways for student participation and contribution have resulted in direct impacts on course pass rates and equity gaps for URMs. Over the course of three semesters, the URM GPA increased by 0.88 GPA units and the URM DFW rate decreased by 13 percentage points. These data suggest incorporation of activities harnessing student assets, increased course pass rates and reduced GPA equity gaps for URM students.
We have also launched a campus-wide faculty learning community (FLC) focused on conversations with faculty around their course-specific student success data, deepening peer support partnerships with the Learning and Academic Resource Center (LARC), and deciding on one or two course changes that will support student success. Initial faculty mindset data from Fall 2022 indicated a wide range of faculty perceptions about whether or not students could change their basic intelligence, should struggle before asking for help, or put in enough effort to overcome challenges. Faculty reflections at the end of the fall semester showed that they were struggling with contextualization and use of their course data and general perceptions of student “preparedness” for college. However, they also appreciated the community’s ability to share ideas across disciplines and the individualized support they received to implement course changes in Spring 2023.
The examples presented above have relied on grant-funded initiatives which vary by semester. This limits our campus ability to provide consistent and ongoing professional growth opportunities to enable faculty to support our ever-changing student body. To improve the retention and persistence of historically underserved URMs, while also supporting enrollment growth, the ECC will collaborate with campus partners to shift our campus culture to integrate and value equity-focused professional growth opportunities such that it becomes part of the campus norm to support, create, and promote opportunities for students, staff and faculty to unlock their potential.
Solution
We ultimately want to change the culture on campus to one that encourages growth for students, faculty, and staff. Professional growth focuses on the life-long learning capacity of faculty and staff as an asset rather than their need for development which is a more deficit-based approach. We need to value our faculty and staff assets so that they may value the assets of our students be a part of this culture shift. We see this as a continuous process, and we will be initially addressing the three goals below.
Goal 1: Integrative professional growth for faculty, staff, and administrators
We will create a structure that allows us to integrate activities into the fabric of existing meeting times (e.g. School Meetings, Division Meetings, Convocation, etc.) for professional growth opportunities. In order to do so, we will partner with senate leadership, deans, and department chairs. We have a 4-semester, repeatable plan of professional growth. The first semester will focus on giving faculty members data related to the equity gaps in their own courses and explaining how to interpret that data. The second semester will involve educating faculty on student support services that are available for their students on campus. In semester three, faculty will be exposed to a “buffet” of simple changes that they can make in their own courses to eliminate barriers to student success. Finally, in the fourth semester, faculty and staff will examine assessment methods to reflect on how the changes they have implemented may have impacted students.
Goal 2: SSU Policy Updates
To support institutional culture change, we are going to recommend specific updates to four campus policies. We will partner with faculty governance to specifically focus on the Re-appointment, Tenure, and Promotion (RTP) Policy, the Periodic Evaluation of Temporary Faculty Policy, the Syllabus Policy, and the Program Review Policy. By integrating equity-focused language in these three policies, it will show that SSU values this work in departments and in the evaluation process. We see this as an opportunity for departments and faculty to showcase their equity work through their RTP process, syllabi, and program reviews.
Goal 3: Creation of a Promotional Mark and Marketing Materials
To further highlight this work, we will create a promotional mark for ECC that faculty, staff, and administrators can use to show that they are partners in this work. Additionally, we will create material like a website and an infographic to feature the work we are doing and to provide opportunities for other faculty, staff, and administrators to get involved.
Conclusion
This work is expected to result in changes in faculty and staff mindset that lead to increased student course pass rates, elimination of equity gaps, and higher student retention and re-enrollment. The ECC partnerships will also strengthen cross-campus collaboration, an integral component of a permanent culture shift that supports ongoing professional growth in equity focused education. Success in changing campus policies and use of the promotional mark will subsequently demonstrate that this work is valued. We will also assess the impact of this work by using student data on course pass rates, equity gaps, retention, and re-enrollment as well as faculty and staff participation in and reflection on growth activities. Our goal is that this becomes an iterative process and part of our culture at Sonoma State and that this work continues to evolve as we make progress across campus to better serve our students.
At Sonoma State we pride ourselves in providing high-touch and high-quality instruction. Students are able to form impactful relationships with faculty and staff that lead our graduates on to upward trajectories. We are capable of taking a student that may have reservations and support them through their educational journey as they learn about themselves. As our students learn what they are capable of, they envision paths after graduation that they may not have considered otherwise. It is time for us to ensure that ALL of our students have the support they need to experience the unique educational experience of Sonoma State.
1 CSU Student Success Dashboard: https://csusuccess.dashboards.calstate.edu/public/dashboard-index